I will be installing 1/2" engineered brazilian cherry. Went to Home Depot
to look for nails to face nail first few rows. Narrowed it down to two options - a) 2" 7d ring shank and b) 2" 6d finish w/brad head. I'm sure
the ring shank holds better but the brad head on the 6d is really appealing as I would like to have as small a hole to putty as possible.

Will either nail work okay? Thanks!

Either will work but I'd use the #6 finish nail. And since you're hand nailing, predrill your holes using the finish nail as a bit. A little slower but the perfect hole.

After puttying the holes, the dried (flat finish) putty will not blend in that great with the pre-finished satin wood surface. Do most installers try to do anything about is or just leave as is?

Seems like it would be hard to correct without affecting the pre-finished surface.

Thanks!

A 15 or 16 gauge finish nail gun is also a good option. No need to predrill, and the nails are smaller diameter.

It is really quite amazing how horrible filled nail holes look when you are staring right at them from 12 inches away.....but how they disappear completely when viewed from above 5 feet.

For 3" strips, what's the proper spacing (length and width) for face nails?

Thanks!

Face nails should be hitting a joist when possible, one in between is usually needed.

Do you put one nail in the middle of the strip in the proper location as you go down the length or do you put 2 nails in with something like a 1" or 1 1/2" gap between them?

Thanks!